


Life in the Dreamhouse

by error127pagenotfound



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - High School, Attempt at Humor, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:22:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25376842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/error127pagenotfound/pseuds/error127pagenotfound
Summary: Jeno, Jaemin, Renjun, Hyuck, Chenle and Jisung share the same dormitory at their boarding school, always getting up to various shenanigans together.But when they start seeing a mysterious figure lurking around their school, they start to become fearful.Then, they find out that one of them is in danger.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello
> 
> i wrote this story over a year ago, so it may seem childish to read.
> 
> however, i enjoyed rereading it and it gave me a chuckle. 
> 
> it would be a shame not to upload it. 
> 
> enjoy the read

“EVERYBODY WAKE UP!” Chenle yelled. He drew the yellow curtains sharply, flooding the room with sunlight. His roommate, Jisung, groaned and tried to hide from the light.

Chenle climbed on top of him and bounced. “Wake up!” he exclaimed.

Jisung made a sound that could only be translated as a dying whale and pushed him off. Chenle climbed back on top of him, a little put out. 

“It’s Sunday,” he reminded Jisung. Jisung's head popped out from under the blanket, face scrunched up with disapproval.

“So let me _sleep_ ,” he whined. Chenle smacked him with a pillow.

“It’s grocery day!” Chenle scrambled off Jisung as he prepared to attack. “I’m coming back after waking up the others, you better be awake.”

He went to other’s rooms, starting with Jeno and Jaemin's. He woke them up, then left them looking sleepy and considering if they wanted to live through the day and went over to Renjun's room, which he had all to himself. There had been talk about a new transfer moving in with him but it hadn’t happened yet.

After getting an alarm clock thrown at him, he went over to Donghyuck's room. He used to share it with their friend Mark, but he had left for the dorms so Hyuck had it for himself now. Mark had made their room mostly purple, and after he had left no one had had the heart to change it. Jaemin had suggested that Hyuck and Renjun share a room, but Renjun refused, saying that any empty room was an open opportunity for ghosts to inhabit. Chenle thought that he just liked having his own room, but they took his word for it.

“Hyuckie.” Chenle shook the lump under the blanket. “It’s grocery day,”

Hyuck mumbled a disgruntled complaint about Chenle and his stupid grocery days. He shook Hyuck harder.

“Mark’s coming too,” he said. Hyuck emerged from under his blanket.

“I'm awake,” he sighed, yawning. Pleased with his work, Chenle went back to his own room, where Jisung was still sitting on his bed, his hair messed up. Chenle shook his sheets straight, which was the farthest he ever came to actually making his bed. In fact, most of their room was what he liked calling “an organised mess”. The only reason that the six of them hadn’t completely trashed their dorm was because they had friends in university who would occasionally come to check on them, like a group of assigned mothers (Chenle’s assigned mother was called Kun).

He went in their little lounge to wait. One by one, the others emerged, pulling on sweaters and finding something to eat. Jeno put a piece of toast in Chenle’s mouth and curled up on a beanbag.

“When’s Mark coming?” he asked. Swallowing his toast, Chenle opened his mouth to respond, but just then there was a gentle knock.

Hyuck ran for the door.

“Ready to go?” asked Mark, smiling.

“Okay,” Mark stretched out the word as he scrolled through the list that Taeyong (the head assigned mother) had made for them on his phone. “Who wants to sit in the shopping cart?”

Everyone’s hands shot up. Mark looked up and let out a slightly exasperated laugh. “I didn’t mean it literally! And besides, all of you can’t sit! You’ll have to choose.”

There was a moment of confusion, then Jaemin spoke up, his voice brimming with laughter. “We’ll let the smallest sit in the cart.”

“Me?” asked Jisung, surprised. Jaemin grinned.

“No, silly. The smallest in size.”

They all looked at Renjun, who lowered his hand, looking annoyed. Chenle could clearly see him battling between having to say it aloud, and his desire to sit in the cart.

“Fine,” he sighed, defeated. “I’m the smallest.”

No one could top that. They let him have the cart.

Grocery Day was a tradition that they had held up since they had started living together, which was now around two years. On the first Sunday of each month, they’d all go to the supermarket and stock up on toiletries, snacks, stationery, too much caffeine and anything else a bunch of teenagers in a boarding school might need. They went around the store, piling all of this in Renjun’s lap and around his legs.

“There’s 'nuts' listed here,” said Mark, looking puzzled.

Hyuck looked scandalized. “Those are healthy,”

“Well, you do have to consume something that doesn’t actively contribute to killing you,” Mark argued back. Hyuck turned to face the others, a hand pressed to his chest.

“We lost him,” Hyuck declared dramatically. “We lost Mark to the adults!”

Everyone gasped in horror. Mark gave up, putting a box of cookies in Renjun’s lap. As he was laughing, Chenle noticed a dark clothed figure out of the corner of his eye, lurking behind one of the aisles and watching the little group.

As he turned his head to see them better, they vanished. Dismissing it as a figment of his imagination, he followed the rest.

They rolled up to the counter, attracting a lot of disapproving stares. The cashier looked a little startled. She scanned their stuff silently, then, as Renjun started to climb out, she asked: “Do you want to check him out too?”

Mark exploded into a fit of giggles, sending the rest of them into one too.

“Yes please,” Jeno laughed, hanging onto Jaemin. The cashier dutifully ran her scanner up and down Renjun.

They paid for their things, waved goodbye and left the cashier looking much happier. Mark walked them back to their dorms, buying them ice cream on their way.

As Chenle took a bite out of Jisung’s ice cream, he saw Jaemin whispering something to Mark, looking troubled. They both looked back for a moment, then Mark whispered something back to Jaemin. It sounded like “I don’t see anything”.

Before Chenle could look back, Jaemin pulled him forward and messed up his hair. “Don’t get a sore throat okay? It’s still a little chilly these days.”

“Okay, okay,” Chenle laughed, pulling away from him. “I’ll be fine!”

Jaemin nodded. “You better be.”


	2. Whatever it is, it's probably Hyuck's fault

Jaemin had consumed too much caffeine.

As a principle, Jaemin was never able to have “too much caffeine”. He could drink six cups of coffee with four shots each and not break a sweat. But he’d pulled an all nighter with Jeno, Renjun and Hyuck for the test this morning, and had drunk a lot of coffee to stay awake. Then after the test, he had a little too many energy drinks with Chenle.

And now he was feeling the after effects. He couldn’t focus on what the teacher was saying at all, and judging by the looks of it, neither could the others. The new student, Yangyang, had fallen asleep. As the teacher turned to face the board, Jaemin twisted around in his seat to face the rest. Nudging Jeno with the toe of his sneaker, he waved frantically at Hyuck, who was near the back. He had attracted Renjun’s attention too. They eyed him, expecting some sort of liberation from the lesson.

 _Let’s bunk class_ , he mouthed. He held up three fingers, indicating Plan C, which was Jaemin’s favourite, probably because of the sheer simplicity of it. He made a paper ball and threw it at Yangyang. He stirred and looked up, confused. Waving to get his attention, Jaemin held up three fingers again. Rubbing his eye, Yangyang nodded.

Jeno raised his hand. “Miss?”

The teacher turned. She was an elderly lady, who could never remember anyone’s names or even bother to try.

“Yes, child?” she asked, peering over her glasses.

Jeno adopted the most innocent face he had. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

She waved her hand absentmindedly. “Go ahead.”

He got up and left, leaving the door wide open. She frowned, going over to close it, but then Yangyang flung his hand into the air. “Miss!” he cried urgently, as if he had caught fire. “I have a question!”

She went to him at the back of the class, back turned to rest of them. This was the moment.

Jaemin simply got up and left.

The other two followed him silently. Once out of the classroom, they started running.

The four of them burst out of the building, laughing hysterically. The teacher wouldn’t even remember that they had been in class. They ran through the gates, pausing only to tell the guards that their teacher had let the whole class out early. 

They stopped in the middle of the road, laughing uncontrollably.

“I can’t believe it worked again,” Renjun wheezed, clutching his side. “She didn’t suspect a thing.”

“We really owe Yangyang one,” Jeno said, out of breath. “We should take him out of class someday.” The others all nodded.

They went to get ice cream, talking about how poor Jisung and Chenle were probably stuck in class. Each person got a cone each, and they exchanged them with each other until it was unclear which was who’s.

They were walking back the campus when Jaemin saw something that made him freeze, causing Jeno to bump into him with a little squeak.

There was a darkly clothed figure standing near the gates, gazing into the campus. It was the same person he thought he had seen yesterday.

“What is it?” The others looked concerned. Jaemin gestured to the figure.

“I saw that guy yesterday,” he said quietly. No one spoke for a moment.

“Maybe it’s a parent,” Jeno suggested. Jaemin nodded, shaking himself internally.

 _Get a grip_.

They went back in quietly, going to their dorm and dispersing into their respective rooms. Jisung and Chenle seemed to already be in their room, bickering over something as usual.

Jaemin settled down in his bed with his laptop, working on his essay. Jeno clattered around the room for a while, then paused in front of the dresser.

“Hey!” Jeno turned. “Why did you mess with my stuff?”

Jaemin looked up, confused. “I didn’t touch anything?”

“They’re not where I left them,” Jeno pointed at the things on his dresser. “I had everything in place and now their order is messed up.”

Jaemin had never actually noticed any order in Jeno's mess of a dresser, but he shrugged. “Maybe it was one of the others.”

Renjun came in, scowling slightly. “If you had wanted to borrow my books you could have _asked_.”

They stared at him in utter confusion.

“My _books_ ,” he repeated slowly, as if they were dumb. “You could have asked instead of messing up my shelf.”

“No one took your books Renjun,” said Jeno, looking puzzled.

“Well, someone has clearly been through them!”

Jaemin closed his laptop. “I think someone has been in our dorm.”

Both of them stared at him as if he was crazy.

“Jaemin, just because our stuff has been messed with doesn’t mean someone’s been breaking in. It was probably Hyuck or Chenle.”

“Chenle says his things are out of place, too. That’s what they’re arguing about. Can’t you hear?”

There was a moment of silence as the other two tuned in to the heated argument next door.

“Okay,” said Renjun, clearly not ready to accept Jaemin’s stance. “It was Hyuck. He probably thought it was getting too peaceful around here.”

So they went to Hyuck's room, where he was settling in for bed. He looked up, confused, as the three of them entered.

“Everything fine?”

“Did you mess with our stuff?” Renjun demanded.

He was a man of brief words.

Hyuck tilted his head. “No.”

They could tell he was telling the truth. He looked a little concerned. “Is something wrong?”

“Everything’s fine,” Renjun assured him. “Go to sleep.” He dragged Jaemin out before he could explain.

“No need to spread unnecessary worry,” he said. “Go to bed.”

“Do you think that man from outside came in?” Jaemin pressed. A flash of worry passed Renjun’s face.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he snapped, suddenly annoyed. “It was probably someone from another dorm, they’ll tell us tomorrow.”

“But-”

“Go to bed!”

Giving up, Jaemin went back to his room, where Jeno was tidying up the dresser. He waited for a moment, then peered out.

Renjun was locking the front door.


	3. The Fine Art of Bullshit

“House meeting!” Hyuck banged two pans together, causing a deafening crash. “Everybody out of your rooms!”

“Stop making so much noise!” Jaemin yelled from his room.

“I will if you _get out of your_ -”

“Everybody shut up!” yelled Renjun, coming outside. “What is it now Hyuck? It's one in the morning."

Hyuck crashed the pans one last time for good measure (he just liked making cacophonies) and drew himself up.

“We’re watching a movie.”

Jisung, who had come outside to see what all the noise was about, looked surprised. “We are?”

“I borrowed it from Dorm C." Hyuck held up a CD cover with a gory looking image on it.

“That’s a horror movie,” noted Jisung. Hyuck threw his hands in the air.

“Utterly bamboozled by your genius spark, Jisung. Yes, it’s a horror movie. We’re having a movie night. Everyone bring your blankets and pillows.”

So they piled onto the sofa, blankets and limbs spilling everywhere, fragments of bickering and squished squeaks floating around. There was Jaemin’s fancy pink blanket, Jeno's extra fluffy blue blanket, Chenle and Jisung’s matching green and yellow ones, Renjun’s dark red and velvety blanket, and Hyuck’s own, which was a warm purple (it had been Mark’s but Hyuck had insisted on keeping it). There was a lot of shifting and squirming as they tried to fit on the sofa, then finally decided they were too big and too many.

In the end Jeno had to curl up on the beanbag by himself, and Jaemin squished himself next to him so he wouldn’t feel alone. This was fine by Hyuck; there was more space on the sofa.

The movie proved to be rather disappointing; mostly just screaming and blood. No one seemed particularly frightened.

“This is boring,” Hyuck rummaged around in the sea of blankets to find the remote and ended up slapping Renjun in the face (by accident, of course).

He didn’t seem to like that much.

Finally locating the remote, he switched off the movie.

“Let’s just go to bed,” mumbled Renjun, snuggling into a pillow, which turned out to be Jisung.

“I don’t wanna sleep,” whined Hyuck. “Let’s tell each other scary stories.”

“Oh!” Chenle’s hand flew into the air. “I have one!”

They all turned their attention towards him, except Jeno, who had fallen asleep in Jaemin’s lap, much to everyone’s amusement.

“I need a flashlight,” said Chenle. “Does anyone have their phone?”

For some reason, no one did. Climbing over Jisung, Chenle went to his room to get his phone. They waited in silence. Hyuck fiddled with Renjun’s hair.

Then Chenle let out a blood curdling scream.

Jisung toppled off the sofa. Jaemin leapt to his feet, throwing off Jeno, as Chenle ran back into the room, straight into Jaemin’s arms.

“There was a face at the window!” Chenle wailed as Jaemin held him tightly.

There was a pause.

Hyuck started laughing.

“I’m serious!” Chenle pointed to the door. “There was someone there!”

“It was probably a figment of your imagination.” Hyuck got up and went into the room, flipping on the lights. He clapped loudly. “Hey face at the window! Show yourself!”

He turned to face the others, who had followed him inside. He placed his fists on his hips. “See? Noth-”

Everyone screamed.

Jaemin seized Jisung and Chenle by their collars and dragged them back out. Hyuck whirled around, alarmed, before Renjun grabbed his arm and pulled him outside. He slammed the door shut.

No one spoke.

Renjun pressed his fingers to his temples. “Collective hallucination,” he muttered.

“Coll- you saw the person outside!” Jisung spluttered. “There was a man, outside our window-”

There was knock on the door.

Everyone froze. The handle turned, and the door swung open.

It was The Warden.

And he was not happy.

“What are you kids doing?” he demanded, his massive walrus moustache bristling with anger. “Awake at one in the morning? And making so much noise?”

The Warden was a large man, with a bulging belly and more hair on his upper lip than on his scalp. He glared down at them.

“Well?” he demanded.

Jaemin stepped up.

 _Alright_ , thought Hyuck. _He’s going to apologize, tell The Warden what happened, and we’ll all get away with no punishment._

“Sir,” Jaemin started, sincerely. “Has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?”

_Or he could try and flirt with The Warden._

Renjun pressed a hand to his forehead as The Warden’s moustache bristled.

“Did you get a new toupee? It looks very nice.” Jaemin pressed on, as if trying to fix things. He was just bullshitting his way now.

“It’s not a toupee!” The Warden bellowed, probably waking up all the boys in the building.

“Of course not,” Jaemin continued smoothly. “You have a very full head of hair, my mistake. In fact, it looks so healthy that I thought it’s fake.”

Chenle made the fatal mistake of letting out a giggle.

The Warden had slowly been swelling in rage, like a big red balloon of anger.

“All of you get detention!” he roared.

“You can’t give detention for a dorm offence.” Hyuck pointed out.

“Also calling out a Warden’s bald spot doesn’t count as a dorm offence,” Chenle cut in.

That did it.

After being yelled at for probably half an hour, The Warden confined them to their dorm for the whole week and finally waddled away in rage.

Just before Renjun closed the door a small figure slipped in, wearing pyjamas and holding a unicorn plushie.

“What did you do?” Yangyang whispered, grinning. Hyuck filled him in on what happened. Yangyang’s grin got wider.

“He did change his toupee,” Yangyang whispered. “It’s because I stole his previous one.”

They all stared at him.

“I was bored,” he shrugged. “Dorm C is pretty boring.”

After he left Hyuck rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe we should invite him to live in our dorm. He’s sneaky..."

He trailed off as he saw the younger ones faces.

“Oh cheer up,” he sighed. “We only got grounded.”

“It’s not that.” Chenle’s voice was small. “I don’t want to sleep in my room anymore.”

“Renjun can sleep in my room, and you two can sleep in his. Is that okay?”

They nodded. Renjun rubbed their shoulders, looking concerned. “It was probably just one of the other boys, or maybe it was Guard.”

“So, who was it?” Hyuck asked, lying in bed. Renjun, in Mark’s old bed, didn’t reply at first.

“You guys saw someone,” Hyuck pressed. Renjun sighed.

“You remember that person outside who Jaemin was so bothered about?”

He wasn’t hard to forget. “Yeah?”

“The person outside looked a lot like him.”


	4. But You Should Have Seen His Face

Everyone was bored out of their minds.

They were four days into the punishment and not being allowed to go outside was driving everyone insane.

(That was their actual excuse for whatever happened next)

So when Hyuck suggested to go outside after curfew, no one argued against it.

“Where will we go, though?” asked Jisung. They were all sitting around in the lounge. Chenle was napping peacefully on the beanbag.

“It will be dangerous to walk around the streets at night,” Jaemin admitted.

“We could go visit someone at university,” Renjun suggested, petting Chenle’s hair.

“At night?”

“No one would mind, they all adore us.”

There was a ripple of amusement among them.

“Since we all can’t go to just one person, everyone choose a hyung,” Hyuck grinned.

“I wanna visit Doyoung hyung.” Jeno piped up.

“I want to see Mark,” said Hyuck. Renjun chose his closest friend Sicheng.

“What about Chenle?” inquired Jaemin, nodding towards the sleeping boy.

“He'll just come with me.” said Renjun. And so it was settled.

They decided to go together, then once they split up within the university dorms, they would come back separately at their own times.

Hyuck climbed out of the window quietly, followed by the others. Jisung toppled out of the window in a rather ungraceful way. They all hissed at him.

“Do you want Guard to find us? If he reports to The Warden, we’re all done for.” Guard was the guard (obviously) who watched over the dormitory building. He too, had a real name, but everyone just called him Guard.

Jisung murmured a tiny apology. Crouching below the window sills, they silently crept along the building. At the edge, they paused. Making sure no one was around to see them, they sprinted into the garden and huddled down behind the rose bushes. The gate was right next to the garden, at the very end. At night, there was only one guard at the gates. All the others were on posts on the walls, but they were facing outside. Security was to keep people coming in, not from going out.

Everyone turned to Jaemin, who was fiddling with something in his hands. A slingshot.

Holding the slingshot up, he shot a homemade popper into the trees at the end of the garden. There was a small crack that sounded unexpectedly loud in the night. As they had expected, the guard went over to investigate the noise.

They ran for it.

Once outside, they kept running until they were at a safe distance from the school.

Then they burst into laughter, thrilled at their success.

They walked to the university, keeping mainly to the busier roads. Mark was waiting for them at the gates, hands in his pockets. He let them in, looking delighted.

“So you made it after all,” he said as they walked to the dormitories.

“Of course we did!” Hyuck was practically bouncing on the air. “Nothing can stop us from achieving our goals.”

“Except a distinct lack of coffee,” Jaemin said.

“And mean adults,” Chenle scrunched up his nose.

There was a moment of disgust for mean adults.

“Adults aren’t so bad.” Mark laughed.

“You haven’t met our Warden.”

There was another moment of disgust, this one a little longer, for Warden in particular. It was during this moment they remembered that Mark had actually met their Warden several times, since he used to share the same dorm.

They split up, going to separate rooms. Renjun and Chenle made their way towards Kun's dorm, since Sicheng was busy completing some assignment or something (sleep wasn’t a very big priority in university, it appeared).

Renjun knocked softly on Kun's door. He opened it, looking both happy and displeased to see them. He ushered them inside, fussing over how they had to break rules to be here, but he was happy to see them looking so healthy, but oh no they were missing sleep and how they couldn’t possibly go back alone.

Another friend who they called Ten, was stretched out on the floor. He smiled at them.

Despite there being only two people per dorm, there was another boy, sitting on the top bunk. He waved shyly.

“That’s Hendery, he’s new here.” Kun turned to him. “Get down here and greet them properly.”

Hendery climbed down meekly.

They stayed for several hours, talking about anything and everything until Chenle started dozing off.

“Look at the time!” Kun exclaimed, as if the time had committed some unforgivable atrocity. “You should go back and get some sleep.”

“But I’m not sleepy,” Chenle mumbled sleepily.

Kun sent Ten to make sure they got back safely. He led them out through the gates, then went over to a motorcycle.

“Do you mind if I take you back on this? It’s faster.”

Renjun accepted eagerly. As they helped Chenle get on, a white unmarked van drove up, right next to them.

Alarm bells went off in Renjun’s head.

As the door started to slide open and a figure started climbing out, reaching out toward Chenle, Renjun rammed his entire body into Ten’s back, throwing him forward.

A fact about Ten: He was small. He was light.

He fell straight into the figure, sending them both toppling into the van. Swinging his leg over the bike, Renjun slammed down on the accelerator, shooting it forward and almost making Chenle fall off.

Renjun threw a glance over his shoulder to see Ten sprawled on the ground, yelling after them. The look on his face was almost funny.

Actually, it was funny, Renjun was just too busy driving away from the van chasing them to appreciate the comedy.

He constantly veered wildly out of control, triggering a series of furious honks.

His wrenched the bike through several cars and a massive truck which almost crushed them. The only thing keeping them alive at this point were their parents' and Kun's prayers.

The bike screeched to a halt in front of the school.

Luckily, they lost the van.

Unluckily, they broke the mirror on the side.

They stared at the bike in silence.

“Well, we can’t just leave it outside.” Chenle said finally.

So they took it inside. After showing the guards their school IDs and making excuses for “coming back so late” they rolled the bike into the dorm. Guard eyed them curiously, but didn’t say anything.

He was a cool guy.

They left the bike in the lounge and went to bed.


	5. Everything Is Fine (It's Not)

Hyuck wasn’t very happy about the motorbike in the lounge.

“We went out for a peaceful visit to the university and you bring back this massive, filthy motorbike! What were you up to last night? Are you listening?”

Renjun was pouring himself a bowl of cereal. He sat down and sighed. “When we left the university last night, Ten offered to take back on his bike. But then the white van came up, like right next to us.”

“What van?”

“The white one, pay attention. Anyway, this guy came out and started grabbing for Chenle. I’ve been on high alert recently, and I got scared. I took the bike, and we couldn’t just leave it outside, so we brought it inside.”

Jeno stared at his laptop in a dazed despair. His assignment was going badly, and he was extremely tired. He hadn’t even noticed the bike that was taking most of the space in the lounge. Jaemin was sitting next to him, eating cereal and occasionally petting Jeno's hair as a sign of support. He seemed completely unfazed by all these proceedings.

“Okay,” Hyuck said finally. “But why?”

Renjun was calling Ten on his phone. “He probably has the same question, so I’m only going to say this once.”

Renjun put his phone on the table and turned on the speaker. Immediately, Ten's voice started yelling at him.

“Hyung,” Renjun paused as Ten continued venting out his anger. He tried again, louder. “Hyung!”

“What?”

“I can explain,”

“You _better_!”

Renjun paused again. Clearly, he had no idea what to explain.

“The van seemed dangerous,” he finally said.

“It was just a plain white van! What if they just wanted to sell drugs?”

“Drugs aren’t safe, hyung.” Jaemin interrupted. “That’s not a very responsible thing to say.”

“I just had a hunch that it wasn’t safe.” Renjun broke in.

“You pushed me into that very dangerous van!”

“I was just trying to keep Chenle safe.”

There was a pause.

“That’s very nice of you, but what if I had gotten kidnapped or something?”

“Why would they kidnap you?” asked Hyuck leaning forward.

“My family could buy you.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Jaemin’s head snapped up. “A ransom.”

Ten was trying to say something, but he was cut off (again) by Jaemin. “Sorry hyung, we have to go."

“My bike-”

“We’ll get it back, goodbye!” he disconnected the call and sat back down.

“They’re trying to kidnap Chenle,” he said. Renjun’s eyebrows drew together.

“Don’t let your imagination run wild, Jaemin. Chenle is fine.”

“You knew it yourself, last night. You knew he was in danger, that’s why you reacted.”

Renjun spluttered weakly, then looked at Hyuck for help. He shrugged. “It does make sense.”

Renjun’s grip on his phone tightened. Jeno finally looked up. “Denying it won’t make him any safer,” he said softly.

Renjun looked like he was on the verge of tears. “I have to keep you guys safe, and going out last night wasn’t a good idea. If anything had happened-”

Chenle came in, wearing an oversized green sweater. He gave them a sweet smile. “Good morning.”

Renjun looked like he was about to burst into tears.

“You’re in danger,” Hyuck told Chenle. His smile faded away. He sat down next to Jeno.

“Someone’s trying to kidnap me, aren’t they?”

No one responded. He nodded calmly. “I saw the person in the van last night, I figured out was going on.”

“You’re taking this awfully well,” Jaemin muttered.

“My family has a lot of money,” he said quietly. “You always have to be ready for these kinds of things.”

There was silence. Jeno closed his laptop and threw it away as Jisung came in.

“We have to go to the police,” Jeno said. “They can help us,”

Jisung looked confused. “Why?”

“Someone’s after Chenle.”

Jisung stopped with his hand on the back of the chair. “Ah...”

“What is it?” Hyuck tilted his head to see Jisung standing next him.

Jisung rubbed the chair nervously. “Something happened last night.”

They all turned to him, alert.

“I was walking back when someone grabbed my shoulder and tried to drag me back,” his mouth twisted slightly. “Then they said something like 'it's the wrong one' and let me go.”

“What did you do?” asked Renjun, his eyes wide with horror.

“I ran like hell.”

“Right,” Renjun pressed his palm against the table. “No one goes out alone, no one goes out after curfew, and no one goes out unless absolutely necessary.”

Hyuck looked like he was about to protest, then decided against it.

“The front door and windows will be locked at all times, lock your own doors at night or I will come into your room at night and...” he struggled to find a suitable threat. “And kill you, or something.”

He pointed at Hyuck and Jeno. “You two are coming with me to the police station. You three will be staying here.”

“Why do I have to stay with the kids?” protested Jaemin.

“I don’t want you complimenting the officer’s eyes,” Renjun wriggled into his jacket. His eyes fell on Jaemin’s stung expression and his features softened.

“I’ll feel better if you stayed with them.” he said gently. “A little safer maybe,”

Jaemin sighed, then nodded. “Fine.”

Renjun was already making his way out. “Make sure you lock the door!”

“So you kids are telling me,” the officer scratched his chin with a pen. “That there’s some person, with some van, that’s trying to kidnap some friend of yours?”

“His name’s Zhong Chenle,” Jeno added helpfully.

“And you’re basing this... this _theory."_ He said like even the word theory was a bit of a stretch. “On some scraps of hunches?”

“Someone tried to grab him from a van!” Renjun exclaimed. “What more proof do you need?”

“Some evidence, maybe?” The man grinned, showing his yellow teeth. He clearly knew they didn’t have any and was having fun pushing them around. “I deal with real problems, kids. Not some half baked fantasy that you got caught up in some sort of adventure.”

“This _is_ a real problem! Someone has been spying on us, they chased us in a van, for goodness sake! We don’t have any “proof” because this isn’t some murder scene where we found the killers fingerprints. The crime hasn’t even happened yet but it will if you don’t do your job properly!”

Jeno held onto Hyuck's sleeve to make sure he didn't try to create a murder scene himself.

The officer didn’t like that. He tilted his seat back. “Go home and try watching less television. I have a job to do.”

Hyuck told him to take his job and gave an explicit suggestion of what to do with it.

They got kicked out.


	6. Kidnapping Students and Stealing Cars: A Guide to Felony

“I should have taken Jaemin with me.” Renjun rubbed his temples. “Maybe the officer would have been nicer if he’d complimented his eyes...”

Renjun was so stressed out that Jaemin made him a cup of coffee, but it was so strong he wondered if Renjun would even drink it. He sighed. 

“Where’s Chenle?” Renjun asked.

Jaemin curled up on the beanbag, pushing Jeno off. “He’s looking for the jade pendant his mother gave him.”

“Why?”

“Says it’ll keep him safe.” Jeno pushed Jaemin off the beanbag and reclaimed his spot.

Renjun looked down at his cup. “Poor thing,” he murmured softly. Jaemin rolled onto the entire beanbag, pushing Jeno off. Renjun scrunched up his nose and drew his feet up, away from the squabble.

Chenle came out of his room, clutching something in a little fist wrapped in his overlong sleeves. “I found it.”

Jaemin, who had finally reached a compromise with Jeno, (they both just crammed themselves on the beanbag) reached out to give his thigh a little pat.

“Don’t be scared, okay?”

He nodded, sitting down. His usual cheerfulness had been scrubbed away, bleaching his sparkle.

Renjun wrapped his arms protectively around Chenle. “I don’t think he should stay here,”

Jeno twisted his neck to look up at them. “Where can he go?”

“Taeyong hyung’s apartment is near here, isn’t it?” Renjun looked at them for confirmation. Jeno nodded. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if Chenle stayed with him for a while. Maybe we’ll be able to get actual help till then.”

They all looked at Chenle. “Is that fine?”

He nodded, rubbing the pendant between his palms. Renjun drank his coffee in one gulp and got up, happy to have a purpose.

“Let’s go then.”

“You two stop being so jittery,” Hyuck complained, nudging Jaemin and Renjun. “You’re making me anxious.”

“This is why you don’t let Jaemin give anyone coffee,” said Jeno.

“Guys?” came Jisung’s small voice.

“Listen he was stressed, okay? I was being supportive.”

“ _Guys_?”

“Who shows support by raising their stress even more?”

“HEY!” yelled Jisung.

“What?” Jaemin and Hyuck huffed in unison.

“There’s a plain white van coming up behind us.”

Renjun whirled around, his eyes widening in horror. He seized Chenle’s arm and broke into a run. The others followed as the van neared them.

“Why didn’t tell us before!?” yelled Hyuck.

“No one was lis-”

“We can’t outrun a van!” Jeno cried. “We’ll get caught!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jaemin saw a taxi stop, and a student climb out. He then proceeded to do something that was really just an example of why you shouldn’t run on coffee and instinct alone.

“Here!” he ran over to the taxi and yanked the door open. The taxi driver stared at him in shock.

“We need to borrow this!” he grabbed the man’s jacket and dragged him out, throwing him on the ground. “Thank you!”

He got in and slammed the door as the others piled in. The poor student that had gotten out of the taxi was pushed back in.

“This is stealing!” protested Jisung.

“Drive!” yelled Renjun from the back.

“I don’t know how to drive!” Jaemin yelled back.

“I do!” Yangyang chirped, raising his hand.

“Where the _fuck_ did you come-”

Hyuck, crammed in the passenger seat with Jeno, yanked at the gearshift and slammed his foot on the accelerator.

The car shot forward, shuddering as Hyuck pressed the accelerator harder. Jaemin struggled to keep it straight but they kept swerving wildly around. Chenle and Jisung screamed as it grazed another car and almost crashed into a truck.

Hyuck cursed loudly, then slid Jaemin’s seat back, sat himself in his lap and took control of the car.

The car swerved again, cutting across two lanes of traffic and taking a turn so sharp that it almost overturned. The van shot by.

“We lost them!” Hyuck exclaimed, looking out over his shoulder.

“FOCUS ON THE ROAD!” Jeno screamed.

They drove through the glass wall of a restaurant.

Jaemin clawed at the airbag pressing Haechan and him back. Unbelievably, neither of them was hurt.

“Everyone alive?” came Renjun’s voice.

“Unfortunately,” Chenle groaned.

They staggered out of the car to see they were in a posh French restaurant, shattered glass everywhere. Everyone was staring at them in utter shock. A lady in a black dress was screaming in rage. Yangyang was dusting himself off, looking vaguely bemused.

The van pulled up in front of the shattered glass, and three tough looking thugs stepped out, running into the restaurant.

They were cornered.

Jeno lurched forward, as Jaemin pushed a woman out of the danger zone and flipped an entire table onto the first man. There was a terrific crash as the table, as the glasses and plates cascaded to the floor.

Renjun took Chenle and ran toward the kitchen, hopefully finding an exit, as Jisung swung a wine bottle at the second man’s head. Hyuck smashed a plate in his face.

The third one was climbing over a table to get to Renjun and Chenle when Yangyang yanked the table cloth out from under him, sending him crashing down. Yangyang threw the table cloth (and everything wrapped in it) over the man and stomped on his face.

Then they ran for it.

~~~

“We’re not very good at making the right decisions,” Jaemin noted.

“We’re good at making a mess,” Renjun complained.

“We just make bigger messes to cover up the previous one.” Jisung said. Chenle giggled from his perch on the back of the sofa.

After they had run, they’d made it safely to Taeyong’s apartment. The restaurant had called the police, who had promptly arrested the three men sent after them, apparently they had been looking for them for quite a while.

For a short time, the police had also been on the lookout for the seven of them (poor Yangyang’s name was there too). Chenle’s parents and Taeyong had to get involved to clear their names, and his parents had paid the restaurant for their damages fully.

“What happened to that poor taxi guy? You guys destroyed his car,” Yangyang was stretched out on the rug on the floor. After the whole adventure, they had invited him to join their dorm, and he’d accepted eagerly.

“You were there too,” Hyuck nudged Yangyang’s tummy with his foot, who rolled away, giggling. “Don’t act so innocent.”

“You pushed me into the car!”

“My parents gifted him another car, said it helped our family a lot,” said Chenle.

“I got involved in stealing a car,” Jisung sighed. “My mom will be so mad.”

“You also crashed it into a restaurant,” Jeno said, sprawled across Jaemin’s lap on the beanbag. “You can add that on your resume.”

Hyuck snorted, swirling the can of coke he was drinking. Jaemin took the can and a sip.

“At least we didn’t get in trouble,” he said. “What a miracle.”

Jeno sighed suddenly. “Oh no,”

Jisung looked concerned. “What?”

“I didn’t finish my assignment!”

They all exchanged looks.

Then they stared laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on Instagram, I try to post sometimes: @error127pagenotfound


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